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Notes ON RUDOLF GIULIANI'S VIEWS On leadership

Here is a summary of Rudolf Giuliani’s views on Leadership as presented in his speeches and book.  He focuses on six principles.  Simply stated, here are those principles:

David Gergen ImageNo. 1, and most important: know what you believe;
No. 2 – optimism;
No. 3 – courage;
No. 4 – relentless preparation;
No. 5 – value of teamwork and of the team;
No. 6 – communication.

The first principle – knowing what you believe – is one the Mayor says he borrowed from a leader he referenced many times during his talk, and unabashedly called his hero: President Ronald Reagan, whom he calls “the best model of a president in the last 40 or 50 years.” Reagan was firm in his beliefs, and unwilling to change his beliefs to reflect public opinion polls. “He was flexible, and he’d change his mind,” Giuliani said, “he’d even compromise if the issue didn’t go against his core beliefs.” But for Reagan, as for Giuliani, decisions made on the basis of public opinion polls aren’t made by leaders; they’re made by actors. “People expect more from leaders,” Giuliani says.

The second principal – optimism – is one the Mayor learned from another role model: his father. It’s especially important for a leader, he said. “What if I’d come up here and stood for a minute, and said how bad things are,” he said, punctuating with a heavy sigh. “And then what if I said, ‘there’s no hope’ – and then said ‘Follow me.’” The crowd laughed, but they got the point: no one wants to follow a naysayer. Optimism is inspiring: “It got me through 9/11, and it got me through prostate cancer.”

Third in Giuliani’s list of leadership principles is courage, which he defines not as the absence of fear, but rather the acknowledgement of it. He talked about the number of firefighter funerals he’s attended – as recently as this week – and he always noted when people refer to them as having no fear. “You can’t be a fireman without being afraid of fire – you can’t be a cop if you’re not afraid of crime.” A real leader will use that fear to help make the situation (read: the world) better.

It is in fact the understanding of this definition of courage that leads to the fourth principle, one that the Mayor talked about from a place of experience: relentless preparation. He described the morning of September 11th, having breakfast and hearing that a twin-engine plane had hit the North tower. His experience told him that it is often the nature of emergency situations that much of the initial information is inaccurate. Responders deal not only with the emergency itself, but with the changing situation as facts are revealed. Giuliani remembered thinking it was the worst thing that had ever happened. But he was guided by the words of his first boss, a Judge who had told him to prepare his cases “relentlessly.” For every hour in court, prepare for 4 hours – because something will come up. On 9/11, when even more attacks were anticipated, as he made the series of unthinkable decisions the crisis demanded, Giuliani was grateful that he had prepared the city for several different emergencies, never imaging that every one of those plans would be adapted and implemented for one terrible morning. “Knowing those plans were in place gave me the confidence to proceed,” he told the audience.

The importance of teamwork – and the value of the team itself – is a principle the Mayor emphasized. “It’s never about the leader,” he said. “If the team does well, the leader looks like a genius.” If not, clearly the opposite is true.

Finally, principle No. 6: communication. It’s absolutely vital. Giuliani told the crowd it’s not enough to know these things – a leader has to be able to communicate them to people at all levels. He stressed how important it is to be honest.